In the context of contemporary computing environments, there are many situations where a person or authority may have access to a computer user's (or custodian's) electronically stored information. For example, a corporate employee may possess a computer (e.g. a PC, phone or tablet) upon which there is stored information of a confidential or sensitive nature. The subject information may be sensitive to either or both of the corporation and employee. Due to the requirements upon the corporation or the relationship between the corporation and the employee, authorities (at the corporation or otherwise) may have access to the sensitive information. Of course, the extent and manner of access to this information may be controversial with an employee, but necessary or very desirable in view of the corporation or another authority (e.g. law enforcement or a government entity). The situation may be awkward or possibly damaging to the employee-employer relationship. This is especially so because the employee often has no knowledge whether the corporation has accessed the information. Furthermore, this difficult situation may arise in a variety of contexts such as between a parent and child, a school and its students, or even in the supervision of civil or criminal litigants by authority such as a state.
A classic example of the situation described is when an employer (e.g. one potential authority) has a policy that requires monitoring the Internet access of it employees (e.g. users, custodians, or computers). In order to mitigate the privacy concerns of employees, the employer's privacy policy may offer that the employer will not access or use the data (e.g. user Internet access logs) without appropriate justification, such as a legal requirement. Even if the employer's policy offers such an accommodation, the employee may be uncomfortable with the possibility that private information is being revealed without any notice or warning.